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2009-08

Today marks the 89th anniversary of the day that American women finally secured the right to vote. On Aug. 26, 1920, U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which provides that the “right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” Since 1971, every President has proclaimed Aug 26 “Women’s Equality Day,” following a resolution first put forward by Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY) – a leader of the modern women’s rights movement.

In a must-read editorial published yesterday, The New York Times’s Adam Cohen lays out a clear and compelling account of the historical implications of the Supreme Court’s decision to re-hear the pending and controversial case called Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

Several of the Republican senators who oppose Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court have based their opposition on skepticism that Sotomayor truly meant what she said when, during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, she pledged “fidelity to the law.” But it is difficult to see how these senators can assess Sotomayor’s fidelity to the law when they don’t seem to know what the actual state of the law is.

As we watch this week’s Senate floor debate on the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, it is a good time to look back and see how the debate over Judge Sotomayor’s record has evolved in the three months since her nomination.